what (not) to doc

New to iTunes this week:
DOLPHIN MAN

Director:
Lefteris Charitos

Premiere:
Paris (September 2017)

Select Festivals:
Miami, CPH:DOX, Docs Against Gravity, Docs Barcelona, Transilvania, Vancouver, Adelaide, Tokyo

About:
A tribute to famed free diver Jacques Mayol.

In 1976, Mayol became the first man to descend 100 meters into the ocean safely without any breathing aid. His dangerous but successful free diving feats inspired Luc Besson’s unlikely 1988 cult hit THE BIG BLUE, expanding his fame worldwide. Using the late Mayol’s at times self-important, pretentious writing to frame wonderful archival material, much of it beautiful underwater footage, as well as new interviews, Charitos constructs a serviceable portrait of a sometimes difficult man more at home in the water among aquatic life than on land with other humans.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, December 4:
BOB LAZAR: AREA 51 & FLYING SAUCERS

Director:
Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell

Premiere:
Ace Hotel LA (December 2018)

About:
A profile of the man who revealed the story of Area 51 to the general public.

Part of a series on people with so-called “extraordinary beliefs,” Corbell’s film sets out to find out the truth behind the claims made by Bob Lazar, a man who went public in 1989 about his experiences working at Area 51 on technology that he claimed was from extraterrestrial sources. Featured widely in television news interviews for a time, Lazar is credited as giving fuel to the fire of numerous conspiracy theories of US government involvement and coverups related to UFOs, and inspiring innumerable television, book, and film projects, including this one. Corbell interviews George Knapp, one of the reporters who initially gave a platform to Lazar and has stuck with him despite threats to the scientist’s credibility, and, much more notably, speaks directly with Lazar, though he more or less simply offers him another opportunity to restate his claims rather than really questioning him about them or unpacking their more interesting ramifications on both popular culture and society as a whole. Mimicking the kind of dark, conspiratorial, and paranoid tone that too easily leads to easy dismissal, the film does itself no favors, and unfortunately features its director on camera during the course of his investigation, further lending it an awkward and cheap TV feel.

Coming to PBS’s America ReFramed tomorrow, Tuesday, December 4:
THERE ARE JEWS HERE

Director:
Brad Lichtenstein

Co-Director:
Morgan Elise Johnson

Premiere:
San Francisco Jewish 2016

Select Festivals:
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jewish fests in West Virginia, Palm Beach, Savannah, Atlanta, Chicago, Santa Barbara, Pittsburgh, Rochester, and Charlotte

About:
A look at several small, struggling Jewish communities around America.

Outside of major urban centers known for their large Jewish populations like New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, there are numerous small communities around the US that serve as home for approximately one million Jews. Lichtenstein and Johnson’s film explores four such off-the-beaten-track places, in Texas, Pennsylvania, Montana, and Alabama. In some cases, the Jewish community was once thriving but now is on the verge of vanishing altogether, with barely enough adult members to achieve minyan, or the official quorum needed to hold certain religious services. In other locations, forward-thinking synagogues have started programs to help grow their community by attracting Jews from outside of the state to relocate. While the film would have been stronger with a more focused profile on fewer communities, it remains an intriguing exploration of Jewish American identity, faith, and legacy.